Installation/Linux/OpenFOAM-dev/Fedora

1 Introduction

This page is dedicated to explaining how to install OpenFOAM in Fedora.

If you do not yet feel comfortable using Linux, then perhaps you better first read the page Working with the Shell and train a bit with the shell/terminal environments, so you can have a better perception of the steps shown below.

Note: This last line means that whenever you start a new terminal window or tab, you should run the alias command associated to the OpenFOAM-dev shell environment. In other words, whenever you start a new terminal, you should run:

In order to build ParaView 5.0.1, including with the ability to use Python and MPI, several steps are needed:

Make sure you're running in the ThirdParty folder and that the correct Qt version is used:

cd$WM_THIRD_PARTY_DIR

For building ParaView with Python and MPI use the following line which could take while, even more that 2 hours, depending on the specification of the machine:

./makeParaView -python -mpi -qmake /usr/lib64/qt5/ > log.makePV 2>&1

Once the makeParaView script is finished running, make sure to check the contents of the file log.makePV and check if there are any errors. If you have any problems building or using ParaView, please check the ParaView installation FAQ page.

Finally, update the shell environment:

wmRefresh

Now let's build OpenFOAM:

Go into OpenFOAM's main source folder:

cd$WM_PROJECT_DIR

This next command will take a while... somewhere between 30 minutes to 3-6 hours:

./Allwmake -j4 > log.make 2>&1

Note: The "4" refers to the number of cores to be used for building in parallel. In addition, the amount of RAM needed for building scales with the number of cores used, something like 1GB of RAM per core; a minimum of 1.5GB is needed for linking the libraries, which is not done in parallel.

Run it a second time for getting a summary of the installation:

./Allwmake -j4 > log.make 2>&1

Note: Technically, the build will stop as soon as the first error is found. Running a second time only makes it easier to sort through between what's already been built and where the crash occurred.

Note: And keep in mind that you need to be careful with the letter case of the command. It's icoFoam, not icoFOAM.

If the previous command failed to work properly, then edit the file log.make and check if there are any error messages. A few examples on how you can edit this file:

By using kwrite:

kwrite log.make

By using gedit:

gedit log.make

By using nano:

nano log.make

You can then exit by using the key combination Ctrl+X and following any instructions it gives you.

Note: It's the first error message that matters.

If you don't understand the output, then please compress the log-file log.make and attach the compressed file to a post in the designated thread.
If you do not know how to create a compressed file, then try one of the following examples:

You can compress the file with gzip by running this command:

gzip < log.make > log.make.gz

Then attach the resulting package file named log.make.gz to a post in the designated thread.

Or you can compress one or more log-files into a tarball package file, by running this command:

tar -czf logs.tar.gz log.*

Then attach the resulting package file named logs.tar.gz to a post in the designated thread.

Now you can go read the User Guide, where you may have more than one choice:

Which you can find a local copy of the User Guide by running the following command:

ls -A1 $WM_PROJECT_DIR/doc/Guides*/*UserGuide*.pdf

You should see two available formats: A4 and US-Letter.

But if it instead tells you that there is No such file or directory, then the OpenFOAM environment is possibly not properly activated.

You can also find the more recent OpenFOAM Foundation User Guides online at the following page: official OpenFOAM User Guide - but be careful if you use the version that is too much ahead of the version you are currently using, given that some features have changed overtime.

Note: When you want to update your build, follow the instructions on section Steps for updating on the parent page.

Reminder: Whenever you start a new terminal window or tab, you should run the alias command associated to the OpenFOAM-dev shell environment. In other words, run the following command whenever you start a new terminal:

Note: This last line means that whenever you start a new terminal window or tab, you should run the alias command associated to the OpenFOAM-dev shell environment. In other words, whenever you start a new terminal, you should run:

Note: This last line means that whenever you start a new terminal window or tab, you should run the alias command associated to the OpenFOAM-dev shell environment. In other words, whenever you start a new terminal, you should run:

Once the makeParaView script is finished running, make sure to check the contents of the file log.makePV and check if there are any errors. If you have any problems building or using ParaView, please check the ParaView installation FAQ page.

Finally, update the shell environment:

wmRefresh

Now let's build OpenFOAM:

Go into OpenFOAM's main source folder:

cd$WM_PROJECT_DIR

This next command will take a while... somewhere between 30 minutes to 3-6 hours:

./Allwmake -j 4 > log.make 2>&1

Note: The "4" refers to the number of cores to be used for building in parallel. In addition, the amount of RAM needed for building scales with the number of cores used, something like 1GB of RAM per core; a minimum of 1.5GB is needed for linking the libraries, which is not done in parallel.

Run it a second time for getting a summary of the installation:

./Allwmake -j 4 > log.make 2>&1

Note: Technically, the build will stop as soon as the first error is found. Running a second time only makes it easier to sort through between what's already been built and where the crash occurred.

Note: And keep in mind that you need to be careful with the letter case of the command. It's icoFoam, not icoFOAM.

If the previous command failed to work properly, then edit the file log.make and check if there are any error messages. A few examples on how you can edit this file:

By using kwrite:

kwrite log.make

By using gedit:

gedit log.make

By using nano:

nano log.make

You can then exit by using the key combination Ctrl+X and following any instructions it gives you.

Note: It's the first error message that matters.

If you don't understand the output, then please compress the log-file log.make and attach the compressed file to a post in the designated thread.
If you do not know how to create a compressed file, then try one of the following examples:

You can compress the file with gzip by running this command:

gzip < log.make > log.make.gz

Then attach the resulting package file named log.make.gz to a post in the designated thread.

Or you can compress one or more log-files into a tarball package file, by running this command:

tar -czf logs.tar.gz log.*

Then attach the resulting package file named logs.tar.gz to a post in the designated thread.

Now you can go read the User Guide, where you may have more than one choice:

Which you can find a local copy of the User Guide by running the following command:

ls -A1 $WM_PROJECT_DIR/doc/Guides*/*UserGuide*.pdf

You should see two available formats: A4 and US-Letter.

But if it instead tells you that there is No such file or directory, then the OpenFOAM environment is possibly not properly activated.

You can also find the more recent OpenFOAM Foundation User Guides online at the following page: official OpenFOAM User Guide - but be careful if you use the version that is too much ahead of the version you are currently using, given that some features have changed overtime.

Note: When you want to update your build, follow the instructions on section Steps for updating on the parent page.

Reminder: Whenever you start a new terminal window or tab, you should run the alias command associated to the OpenFOAM-dev shell environment. In other words, run the following command whenever you start a new terminal: